St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-11-21
Pass Charles Elliott,
Kansas City to the Hatchie Coon,
Account Operator.

Pass Charles Elliott,
: Kansas City to the Hatchie Coon,
Account Operator. :
*.......-... ...... ..............
"The name looked rather lugubriOus,
and every conductor that handled that
pass looked at me significantly and
smiled sympathetically. but | didn't
feel uneasy. Along in the afternoon L
passed Mammoth Spring and Ravendon.
What delightful country this for fish
ing and hunting" | thought. 'Fll have
Il glorious time in these woods But,
after passed HOxie, the hills and clear
streams disappeared. and on either side
OF the track appeared
DENSE FORESTS OF GUN AND CYPRESS.
1.-The ground was perfectly level, and
little pools OF Stagnant water numerous.
As went on towards MY destination
the gloominess increased, and i'll spite
of myself commenced getting blue.
About 5 o'clock in the afternoon the
train stopped, the fiendish brake
man entered and yelled 'Hatchie
Coon with a sickly grin. l
collared my valise and got off.
1t was raining one of those nasty, sticky
rains that are disagreeable anywhere,
but standing all alone on that railroad
dump, with water stretching out on both
sides of the track as far as | could
see, through the dense forest,
and with the great dark cypress
trees hanging over me, it was
simply awful. Down the track 100
yards or so | saw little tent, the only
evidence of the existence of humanity,
besides the railroad in this wilderness.
| walked down and found that this was
the telegraph office over which
was nrnSiHp Tho onar
ator whom | was to relieve
met me and escorted me inside. The
only furniture was an old, dirty, canvas
cot, broken down chair and little
table, which held the instruments.
| sat down on the cot and absolutely
wept i'll my loneliness and the sense of
utter desOlation. To brighten me up
the operator, after he. had reported the
train, told me stories of the pleasant
features of the place, of the mammoth
mosquitoes, the bears which nosed
around the neighborhoOd. the
MUSICAL CRIES OF THE WILD CAT.
which could be heard i'll the evening,
and the friendly snakes which crawled
up into the tent for companionship. He
was going away, and was happy. We
would catch the next freight train and
go to supper. Where did we eat? Oh,
just up the road nine or ten miles. at
Big Bay. There was a section house
there. The train came along. 1t was
minus cabOOse, S had to ride Oh top
of box car through that internal rain
for two hours, for freight trains have to
walk along there. Big Bay was Town.
1t had grocery store and saw-mill,
besides the section house. The supper
fTad ID of soggy fat potatoes s"es
and coffee. There was no such thing as
butter and we sweetened the coffee
with mOlasSeS. The landlady was fat
and greasy and dirty, differing in the
first particular from the other in
habitants. The section boss was long
and sandy and thin, with the yellow
complexion so popular in the neighbOr-
hood. His subordinateS were ditto.
The flies were awful. The table was
long one, and long bench was placed
on either side to accommodate the
bOarders. The table-cloth was of oil
cloth, and had evidently served in that
capacity without being cleansed for an
indefinite period. Before Ihad finished
my supper caught sight of the French
cook in the kitchen. l got up, went out
and
SAT ON THE END OF A TIE
and meditated. The section men came
out and sat on the rail and told stories
of trackwalkerS who had been eaten by
panthers in that vicinity, while the
owls and the bullfrOgs cfIanted a dOleful
accompaniment. There was an operator
at Big Bay. He occupied six-by-nine
shanty that had been originally intended
for hand-car and Toulouse. This was
our sleeping-rOOm. The next morning,
after a breakfast which embodied the
same menu as the supper, l caught
freight and rode down to Hatchie Coon.
The tent which formed my office was
set on platform of rough planks, up
swamp. The only dry land was the
railroad dump. 1t was dark even when
the sun was shining, and all through the
day the deep cultural grunts of the bull
frogs added to the lonesomeness. found
the instruments literally covered with
mosquitoes, attracted by the bright
metal. They were of size and ferocity
hitherto unknown to me, and it was only
by continuous exertions that l could
keep them away from me. Down in the
.SwampS, underneath and around the
tent, could
SEE NUMERoU SNAKES.
Sometimes dozen would be tangled
in bunch. The smell of the stagnant
water was SlckenlnS, anu Tie dlT was SO
full of malaria you could almost see it.
Well, 1 stayed in this delectable spot
over a month. found that the closest
inhabitant in any direction was at Big
Bay. think 1 was the only man in the
county. One night had to stay until
o'clock to get orders for special. The
din after dark was fearful. The owls,
with their blood-curdling shrieks, the
frogs, the cries of wild animals
of all kinds, and the songs of
the mosquitoes made up a con-
cert that l shall never forget. Ny
only weapon was broken poker, and
l can tell you l was glad to see the
headlight of my train heave in sight.
Several times thought heard the pc
culiar cry of the panther across the
track, but it might have been an owl
Another night the pile-driver train laid
up there and had to stay all night to
give them working orders the next
morning. tried to sleep on the old
cot, but the mosquitoes cornered
me and stuck their bills even
through my clothes. took off
my clothes and rubbed coal oil all
over me, but they seemed to like it. A
line repairer had been there few days
before and left one Of these little sheet
E.